Reclusion & Burn Out Brighter
by blink8pogonip
Summary: Tai Lung finds himself in an unexpected place. And he plans to get revenge on the people he's confronted from his past. But...will he really? Based off of two Anberlin songs.


N/A: Hey, it's me again. Just thought I'd upload another story. This one's gonna be short, only two chapters, based off of two different Anberlin songs. Heard of them? If you haven't, I suggest you go listen to them.

This one's also gonna be almost like a prologue to my future TaiLungxTigress story (oops, kinda gave it away).

I'm rather surprised no one ever thought of putting "Reclusion" to a Tai Lung story. The song describes the snow leopard _perfectly_. But then again, Anberlin isn't all too popular.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story and the dark poetry of the song. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda, it belongs to Dreamworks Animation. And I don't own "Reclusion". It belongs to Anberlin and Tooth and Nail Records.

* * *

><p>ReclusionBurn Out Brighter

Chapter 1: Reclusion

* * *

><p><em><strong>There's someone inside me that softly kills everyone around.<strong>_

_**They don't know they're dead to me 'cause intent never makes a sound.**_

Tai Lung awoke, breathing heavy puffs of air, just as he had done right before his escape from Chorh-Gom Prison long ago. He opened his gleaming orange eyes and found himself buried deep inside a cave, with barely any light inside. But "barely any light" still meant that there was an opening- a way out, and a way to escape.

He was in a kneeling position at the moment. He tried to move his limbs, but he noticed that some objects- like very heavy weights, even for Tai Lung- kept his hands in place. His legs were also bound to the ground. He felt as if he were trapped _exactly _as he had been back at Chorh-Gom Prison, except without a huge shell on his back.

Before struggling to get out, Tai Lung tried to answer the question of how he had been trapped where he was. He started to gather all of his memories together.

_There was…a panda, _he thought. _And…he…he defeated me…with…the Wuxi Finger Hold._

_**All along they've found I've strangled lovers who've learned from slower hands…**_

_And I remember…Master…Master Shifu…he trained me all my life…and when I didn't receive that Dragon Scroll_…_he…HE DID NOTHING! Not even protest against…Master Oogway!_

Tai Lung thought about his old master and what the red panda had done- or rather, hadn't done- and those thoughts made Tai Lung clench his teeth in a slowly brewing anger.

_I wanted to take that scroll…I obviously deserved it…I was put in prison…I broke out…and tried to kill Shifu, since…since he never told me…where the scroll was._

Even the person who had loved and cared for him for so many years he tried to strangle. No one would dare do such a thing to their caretakers. Except of course, Tai Lung.

_**In these eleven minutes I could teach you what I am.**_

Tai Lung, with the anger he had kept inside of himself, began to attempt to break free from his restraints. However, as he tried as hard as he could, he could not help but become distracted by all of the memories he could pull out from the back of his mind.

_**You're sick, sick as all the secrets that you deny,**_

_**Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide…**_

_And the fight…against the Furious Five…I easily took them out…they ought to be gone by now. _

Thinking about all of those whom he wanted to take revenge on made Tai Lung's anger grow to an even higher level.

_**You're sick, sick as all the secrets that you deny**_

_**Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide…**_

_I may have failed to defeat the Dragon Warrior, and…that Scroll…the panda lectured me! About the Scroll's secret! That flabby bear will learn a lesson from me! And he will _never _forget it!_

The snow leopard grew even stronger, so much that he felt the weight that was pulling his left arm down started to budge.

_**There's an art in seclusion, production in depression.**_

_**If a stranger turns up missing, this song is my confession.**_

Tai Lung's mind flashed back to the one point before imprisonment- where he destroyed the village in all his anger. He could clearly picture what that moment looked like- buildings in ruins, the landscape destroyed and erupting in flames, the countless civilian lives being taken. He would very well admit that it was his fault- but his motive for doing so, he blamed on his master and being denied the Dragon Scroll.

_**Tell the tales of the trail of dead, lovers learned from slower hands.**_

_**Losing self in myself, inner demons make demands.**_

It felt as if every good thing in Tai Lung was being squeezed right out of him. His innocent self from so long ago was fading away completely, and his personal demons- with hatred and a desire for destruction- took over his heart. Tai Lung could acknowledge that it was like what Oogway had said- there was darkness in his heart. But this time it was there to stay.

_**You're sick, sick as all the secrets that you deny,**_

_**Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide.**_

_**You're sick, sick as all the secrets that you deny,**_

_**Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide.**_

Tai Lung felt his anger rising again, thanks to every memory he could recall. Both of his arms were now moving, and he felt the bindings around his feet shift slightly. He knew that if he kept trying to move, he could eventually break out and become free.

_**You're suffocating me, so very hard to breathe**_

_**My mask is growing heavy, but I've forgotten who's beneath.**_

Tai Lung gathered everything he could remember together in his mind once more. As he recalled everyone and everything one at a time, his rage continued to rise, and his restraints began to lose their hold on him.

_The Furious Five_- _I…I must make sure they're gone!_

The snow leopard gnashed his sharp teeth, and used all his might to make continue attempting to break free. He felt the binding on his right foot break loose from the ground.

_Shifu- I'm going to…I'm going to really kill that old man…if he's still around!_

Tai Lung lifted his right foot angrily, and the binding broke completely off. The gray feline was quite satisfied to feel freedom on that area of his body.

His next thought was the Dragon Warrior, a dumb panda named Po. A dumb panda!

_I'm not going to stay embarrassed because of that SILLY, IDIOTIC PANDA! I will slaughter him, with NO MERCY! I will let NOTHING stop me!_

The binding on his left foot moved upward. As he struggled, the straps that were on the bindings around his foot gradually loosened. Tai Lung gave another strong pull upward, and one by one, the straps snapped with a breaking sound that reverberated across the cave. The feline stepped off of the sharp metal that had just broken, and was already anticipating escape from the depths of the dark confinement.

However, before he brought his arms together to break the weights, a thought came to his mind, right out of the blue. It was the thought that Tai Lung least wanted to think at a time like this.

It was before the devastation in the village that he caused years ago. In fact the very memory that had just entered his mind was about the time when he was Shifu's student and beloved adoptive son. He was so innocent, playful, and aspiring, and happier than ever. Had he forgotten what it was _truly _like to know that his father and master cared so much about him? To know that everything Shifu taught him and did for him was for _his_ sake?

Once that thought entered Tai Lung's head, the dark side of the feline, dominating over his very essence at the moment, kicked in, telling him that that memory was a mere distraction towards his goal. Of course, Tai Lung wanted his ultimate revenge on everyone he knew. If that was his objective, why should some silly childhood memories get in the way?

_**You're sick, sick as all the secrets that you deny**_

_**Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide.**_

Shoving the thought far off to the side, Tai Lung mustered all of his strength from his anger in order to move his arms. He squeezed his eyes shut, and used as much of his might to swing his arms forward. With every ounce of strength, he got his arm muscles working so hard that he could feel the burn. He reopened his eyes and swung his arms closer together in front of him. The weights tied to the chains on his arms, which happened to be boulders similar to the ones at Chorh-Gom Prison, moved so rapidly that, right before his arms touched, the boulders struck each other with enough force to make both of them crack into pieces. After feeling the difference in weight, he quickly cut open the metal cuffs that were connected to the chains, which fell to the dirt ground with a thud. Now that his limbs were free from all the weight that confined them, he was free to run right out.

Tai Lung's feet thrust forward, and in an instant, he left the spot where he had been stuck. Running on all fours on the rocky, somewhat abrasive cave floor, he moved as quickly as he could towards the visible sunlight. Once he saw the entire cave opening, he looked at the landscape right outside.

Right in front was a lush hillside, crowded entirely with shrubs and trees. Behind them were tall, snowcapped mountains. Tai Lung looked down and saw the mountain in which his cave was situated on. It was rather rocky and snowy, similar to the mountains that were in front. And high up in the sky was the radiantly shining yellow sun.

Although the scenery was wonderful, Tai Lung had no time to admire it. He jumped off of the ledge at the edge of the cave and landed right on top of a protrusion on the mountain.

_**You're sick, sick as all the secrets that you deny**_

_**Sins like skeletons are so very hard to hide.**_

As he hopped from overhang to overhang on the side of the mountain, Tai Lung began to think about his targets again.

The Dragon Warrior. The Furious Five. Shifu, his ex-master. All of them would be gone once he got to the Jade Palace.

And nothing at all was going to stop him.

* * *

><p>NA: Even as the author of this fic, I really don't know for sure how Tai Lung got into the mess in the first place. Perhaps punishment from the gods? No, most likely just magic. :/

"Burn Out Brighter" coming up next!

再见 (Zàijiàn!)


End file.
